shooting and traping magpies

thekevin4540

i have a magpie caller and a decoy would you get magpies in a larsen trap by putting the decoy in the call bird compartment and putting on the caller to get them in near the trap i have the trap set with eggs for the last few months and got nothing . and what is the best way to shoot the magpies with a shotgun or a 22lr how would i set up the decoy and what bait to use when shooting them

pugw

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056191702 Need to be a good bit closer but if you got in amongst cover no reason why you couldnt get them within shotgun or .22 range

thekevin4540

i am going shooting them on sunday would i get them within shotgun range with the decoy and caller

6.5x55

The Kevin
I have had my Larsen going for 10 day's in the back garden and have had 14 magpies since then .They seem to be Pairing up now . I caught my call bird by making a nest and filling it with eggs . .Keep trying the larsen traps they are the business if you get them working .

6.5

Dupont

6.5x55 wrote: »

The Kevin
I have had my Larsen going for 10 day's in the back garden and have had 14 magpies since then .They seem to be Pairing up now . I caught my call bird by making a nest and filling it with eggs . .Keep trying the larsen traps are the business if you get them working .

6.5

how the hell did u manage that ive one set for over a month and caught one,and he didnt do any calling.

johngalway

thekevin4540 wrote: »

and what is the best way to shoot the magpies with a shotgun or a 22lr how would i set up the decoy and what bait to use when shooting them

Well it depends I suppose, I'm not great with a shotgun on airborne varmints, so I use the rifle. What I would do is find good cover within 50-60 yards of a fence line, one which has a very safe backstop. Slit open rabbit with guts showing should tempt them in.

thekevin4540

johngalway wrote: »

Well it depends I suppose, I'm not great with a shotgun on airborne varmints, so I use the rifle. What I would do is find good cover within 50-60 yards of a fence line, one which has a very safe backstop. Slit open rabbit with guts showing should tempt them in.

if sit down side a screen of trees whare i allways see the magpies and put out a rabbit and decoy will i get them into shotgun range becous i am going on a fox shoot sunday and want to try for a magpie on the way back

session savage

I would agree with Johngalway.
Shoot a rabbit first, then slit his belly and leave him just out from a ditch or fence (make sure you have a good backstop cause them .22's are whores for ricochet) then set up 75yards(thats my zero) away and wait.

Big thing though, birds have savage colour vision so if your hiding waiting for a maggie make sure your face is shaded or camo'd too or it'll stand out like a beacon.

RichieRich

Dupont wrote: »

how the hell did u manage that ive one set for over a month and caught one,and he didnt do any calling.

hi dupont you've got to have the captured maggie moved to a strange area, his call then will attract the maggies from the local area, that's how it works, try to swap the call bird with one of your mates ones,

remember the non local magpie is what you want to do the calling

thekevin4540

i am getting a callbird for my larsen trap will 15 inches wide by 16 inches long and 18 inches high be anough room for him or will i have to make it bigger

thekevin4540

i got the call bird and he is very small and he was starving the minute i put him into the trap with food and water he started eating he is vey tame i dont know why but he doesint go mad in the trap when you go over by it what type of shelter would i need for him i have a timber roof on him would this affect the trap

RichieRich

ya, timber roof is fine over call bird, you have to have him covered, even if he seems tame he should be calling, he won't make a racket at you, but early in the morning is when birds are most active,- calling and travelling,
be sure to keep the wings for the vermin count,
good luck:)

Ambersky

My dad has a Larson trap and I was thinking of borrowing it.
Im an animal lover and dont like the idea of trapping things but I came home the other day and found 15 Magpies in my back garden.

I live in Dublin, is this considered to be a huge number for an urban area?
There is a bird feeder in the garden and I have quite a few sparrows, robins, a few blackbirds and dunnocks as regular visitors.

In the last three years there has been a huge reduction in sparrow numbers and I have seen magpies take chicks.

Most of the stuff I read about magpies and the decrease of small bird numbers blames the cutting or removal of hedgerows and lack of food rather than the magpies.
Articles usually say that eggs and chicks only constitute about one tenth of a magpies diet and that song bird numbers can recover leaving everything in a natural balance if you leave the birds alone.

Are people here convinced the magpies left alone will distroy the small bird population?
If I do kill them will more come and will I have to keep killing magpies?
Do they die quickly? Any other humane way to kill them besides hitting their heads, not sure I can do it?
I hope all the questions are all right

Tackleberrywho

Ambersky wrote: »

My dad has a Larson trap and I was thinking of borrowing it.
Im an animal lover and dont like the idea of trapping things but I came home the other day and found 15 Magpies in my back garden.

I live in Dublin, is this considered to be a huge number for an urban area?
There is a bird feeder in the garden and I have quite a few sparrows, robins, a few blackbirds and dunnocks as regular visitors.

In the last three years there has been a huge reduction in sparrow numbers and I have seen magpies take chicks.

Most of the stuff I read about magpies and the decrease of small bird numbers blames the cutting or removal of hedgerows and lack of food rather than the magpies.
Articles usually say that eggs and chicks only constitute about one tenth of a magpies diet and that song bird numbers can recover leaving everything in a natural balance if you leave the birds alone.

Are people here convinced the magpies left alone will distroy the small bird population?
If I do kill them will more come and will I have to keep killing magpies?
Do they die quickly? Any other humane way to kill them besides hitting their heads, not sure I can do it?
I hope all the questions are all right

I see magpies working the hedge rows for eggs every spring.

Farmers are not allowed anymore cut hedges after feb so all chicks that are killed in a nest are as a result of magpies.

If you trap magpies there are several humane ways of dispatching them.

Get a sandbag and put the bird inside it an the dunk in a bucket of water if you are not up to donking on the head.
On chicken farms chicks that are sick are dispatched this way (blame Tesco for €3.50 chicken Vs Vetinary bills)


In towns magpies do well as they are scavengers
We had magpies harassing our garden song birds.

I use a small bird feeder now as the mag's can not grasp on to it with their feet but the finches, tits,wagtails, and robins can.

In nature magpies are only preyed upon by birds of prey which are very scarce.

Song birds are preyed by everything else.

Eddie B

Ambersky wrote: »

My dad has a Larson trap and I was thinking of borrowing it.
Im an animal lover and dont like the idea of trapping things but I came home the other day and found 15 Magpies in my back garden.

I live in Dublin, is this considered to be a huge number for an urban area?
There is a bird feeder in the garden and I have quite a few sparrows, robins, a few blackbirds and dunnocks as regular visitors.

In the last three years there has been a huge reduction in sparrow numbers and I have seen magpies take chicks.

Most of the stuff I read about magpies and the decrease of small bird numbers blames the cutting or removal of hedgerows and lack of food rather than the magpies.
Articles usually say that eggs and chicks only constitute about one tenth of a magpies diet and that song bird numbers can recover leaving everything in a natural balance if you leave the birds alone.

Are people here convinced the magpies left alone will distroy the small bird population?
If I do kill them will more come and will I have to keep killing magpies?
Do they die quickly? Any other humane way to kill them besides hitting their heads, not sure I can do it?
I hope all the questions are all right

Just remember that every nest a magpie finds, he will take every chick (egg), so thats a whole brood wiped out! You say you have 15 of them in your back yard! Thats way to many, a lot of stress gonna be put on the songbirds in your area to rear young!

I think even do your not keen on trapping, you do understand that there is an overpopulation of some species of birds due to us human's (bin waste, road kill e.t.c) so it is up to us to try and make a ballance!

There's no real easy or nice way of doing this and the best option would be your fathers larsen trap! I use an air rifle to dispatch mine!
Maybe there is someone in your area with one, or someone who would volunteer to dispatch them for you!

If your living in a built up area it might be best to bring the cage inside a shed when dispatching, you may have nosey neighbours!:D

caseyann

Question why shoot magpies?

Tackleberrywho

caseyann wrote: »

Question why shoot magpies?

Because they are the hunters enemy as they kill nesting birds and they are the farmers enemy as they take the eyes out of newborn weak lambs.

Grey crows and Magpies are on teh prowl big time this weather

caseyann

Tackleberrywho wrote: »

Because they are the hunters enemy as they kill nesting birds and they are the farmers enemy as they take the eyes out of newborn weak lambs.

Grey crows and Magpies are on teh prowl big time this weather

wow they do all that really?

Tackleberrywho

caseyann wrote: »

wow they do all that really?

If you ever watched the African plains on Discovery, they are the closest things we have to Vultures; and foxes are to jackals.


This time of year ewes are lambing.

Some ewes like to lamb away from noise so they go off up a field.
While she is giving birth she is vulnerable and the lamb is very vulnerable, especially if it is a difficult birth.

I have seen the eyes gone from a lamb that was a breach birth on a ewe.
In some areas there is a disproportionate amount of magpies I have often seen 7 in the same field.
They work in pairs and they hop hedgerows for chics.

Caused a lot of hassle in Lough Boora Parklands on the Partridge.

If we had large birds of prey they would feed on magpies and grey crows but we have very few raptors

thekevin4540

my callbitd and a wild magpie are attacking each other threw the trap all day but he will not go in any tips on how to get him into the trap

Ambersky

Thanks guys for the feedback.
Its a virtually feeding frenzy around here these days when I put out bird food.
Magpies especially like the fat balls held in nylon mesh that I hang up for the little birds. This they quickly knock down, stand on and tear into.
My back garden looks out onto other back gardens so there is quite a large green habitat if you were to take and ariel view of the place.
I can see gardens, walls, a few trees and the back roofs of houses.
From the back bedroom window now I can count 10 magpies in pairs or in a group on one roof.
When food is available and one finds it, they all have a good view of whats going on and swoop down as a gang.

The magpies are also watching the coming and goings of other birds.
Other years I saw them follow ringed doves to their nest and it was awful listening and watching a group of them gang up on the pair defending their nest.
They also take birds that are on regular flight paths from my house to their nests in what seems like the attics of houses opposite and of course I have seen them take young sparrows.

Its this watching and waiting and the eventual ganging up that I find so difficult to stand back and watch.
Magpie numbers here are definitely up, when I first moved into this estate there were no magpies for years I have seen their numbers rise over the past few years and the numbers of house sparrows are dramatically down.
Granted it is most noticable in spring and summer, I havent noticed them attacking or taking other birds in winter, although the other birds scatter when they even see the shadow of what they think is a magpie.

In all honesty I would usually be on the othe side of the camp, anti blood sports, but I can understand when something goes out of balance without a natural predator of its own, needing some form of control of numbers.
At the same time I wouldnt want to inflict needless pain on any creature. Its a real dilemma for me.
Ive been looking up humane ways of dispatching birds and came across this site.
Maybe the clipping of wings and relocating them might be the way for me to go.
Cant imagine asking any of the neighbours to come in and kill a bird for me and anyway if I cant handle this myself Im just going to leave it alone and let that be my decision.

http://www.sialis.org/hospdispatch.htm
Ironically this site wants to kill sparrows the ones I am protecting from the magpies, hmm someting to think about maybe.
I am honestly looking for the best thing to do.

Tackleberrywho

Nothing as cruel as nature itself.

If you trap magpies you will save songbirds, if you don't you will save the magpies......

Which one is more under thread?

Magpies are relentless when birds are sitting on a nest

Eddie B

At the end of the day it's your decision, it whatever you feel more comfortable with! I don't think relocation is a good idea, every city, town and village in the country has the same problem, so your only passing the problem onto somebody else!

Im not saying that you should kill all the magpie's in your area, just keep the numbers down so's there's less preasure on the songbirds during the nesting season!
Nature usually deals with overpopulation by means of starvation, but unfortunetly this won't happen with magpies, because their thriving on rubbish bin's and the like! If only they stuck to eating from them we wouldn't have a problem with them!

thekevin4540

i got my fist magpie in my homemade larsen trap about 5 o clock he was around the trap since 2 and only went in at 5 he was trying to attack my call bird threw the trap but he finally went in

Tackleberrywho

thekevin4540 wrote: »

i got my fist magpie in my homemade larsen trap about 5 o clock he was around the trap since 2 and only went in at 5 he was trying to attack my call bird threw the trap but he finally went in

My Neighbour caught 2 today

I have got none to date and gave the loaner trap back this week.

I'll buy a decent trap one of these days

thekevin4540

got 2 more and there still comming up to the thap

jimbrowning

my call bird died the other day, any1 kno why? it had plenty of food n water, a perch and shelter from rain, he was only in it for 3 days.???:(

rugerman

could of been fightin through the cage and bled out see it happen a few times